Fate of petrochemical complex to be sealed before 2012 poll
Focus Taiwan 4 Apr 11;
Taipei, April 4 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou said Monday that the government will decide whether to push for a proposed petrochemical complex development project in central Taiwan before the 2012 presidential election.
"The government will also make the best arrangement balancing the sustainable development of the environment and the future of the industry," the president said at the Dacheng Wetland in Fangyuan Township, Changhua County.
Ma was visiting the wetland, after being shouted down at a rally protesting the project the day before.
The president first listened to a briefing by the Fangyuan anti-pollution self-salvation association, and then changed into rubber boots to tour the wetland. He also dug mud from the wetland and visited oyster aquaculture areas.
Ma said that after entering the wetland, he could appreciate its rich ecological resources and the deep attachment of oyster growers to the land.
"I was deeply moved when I saw oyster farmers kneel on the wetland to pray to the heavens," the president said.
"Wetland conservation is the consensus of the world. We will not be absent from the world in this regard," he said.
The president said the visit was mainly to learn about the wetland and the commercial situation in the neighboring areas, noting that local development revolves around oyster aquaculture.
He expressed the hope to "strike a balance between industrial development and environmental conservation."
But he also said that "we are a democratic country, " and policy making will have to be rational and peaceful, and that everyone will have to abide by the rule of the game.
Environmentalists who accompanied Ma said the wetland at the mouth of the Jhuoshuei River is the only big muddy river mouth wetland left, with a rich intertidal ecology and aquaculture industry.
But the wetland's future, they said, is now shrouded in shadows because of the development project.
They also advocated passing related laws that would protect the wetland, such as the national land planning, shoreline and wetland acts.
Some supporters of the project also appeared. Dacheng Township head Wu Ming-yu said many opponents were not local people and could not represent their real voices.
Representatives from the township said unemployment in Dacheng is high and negative net migration is serious, and they complained that the president only heard the voice of opponents and not supporters.
The project was initiated by Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co., an affiliate of state-run oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan, to expand oil refining capacity and production of chemicals such as ethylene.
The government argues the capacity is needed to keep Taiwan competitive in the petrochemical sector in the face of stiff competition from Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Environmentalists believe the complex will create losses that outweigh its economic benefits, including damaging the local agriculture sector and the Dacheng Wetlands, where the complex would be located, while putting the health of local residents at risk. (By Wu Jhe-hao, Yeh Tzu-kang and Lilian Wu) enditem/ls
